Citizenship Utopias in the Global South: The Pursuit of Transformative Alternatives in Times of Civic Disillusionment

Academy of Finland project funding for early-career researchers (2019-2023)

Project description:
In many parts of the Global South, popular calls for systemic transformations over the last decade are now met with civic disillusionment. This research project examines the ways in which intertwining processes of increasing populist authoritarianism, securitization of civil society and global extractivism shape citizens’ fields and imaginations of transformative action in an era of popular disillusionment towards state promises of social justice and representative democracy. It investigates what kinds of ‘citizenship utopias’ and new forms of activism emerge in these changing socio-political circumstances. The project produces detailed ethnographic accounts of civic activism in today’s Bolivia, Kenya and Tunisia. It creates new knowledge and conceptualizations of citizenship in the Global South by integrating in a novel way sociological and anthropological discussions of citizenship and postcolonial literature on transformative alternatives.